Author Archives: Brian Paddick

Brian Paddick writes… Policing the riots

By Brian Paddick | 28th September 2011 - 11:50 am

I am on the horns of a dilemma. I served Londoners in the Metropolitan Police for more than 30 years and loyalty to my former colleagues runs deep. As a sergeant, I faced bricks and petrol bombs on the streets of Brixton in 1981. So I know what officers went through during the recent riots. I later became one of a small cadre of advanced trained public order senior officers who took charge of policing protests and big events in London. So I know the strategies and tactics for dealing with riots. Yet I, like most Londoners, was disappointed by …

Posted in London and Op-eds | Tagged bernard hogan-howe, riots and tim goodwin | 8 Comments

Brian Paddick writes: Building a better future for Londoners

By Brian Paddick | 25th August 2011 - 11:54 am

Since I retired from the police I have not had a car. Since then ‘the world is my Oyster card.’ I rely on trains, tubes and buses to get around London and I’m appalled by what I see.

Vanity projects and electoral gimmicks like the new Routemaster and replacing bendy buses are soaking up millions of pounds of the transport budget. The new Routemaster will cost nine times as much as a conventional bus – never mind the millions spent on development! On the right routes and properly regulated so they don’t end up stuck together, bendies do a perfectly adequate …

Posted in London and Op-eds | Tagged bendy buses, london mayoral selection, oyster card and transport | 3 Comments

Brian Paddick writes: What we need to do in the wake of the riots

By Brian Paddick | 18th August 2011 - 12:53 pm

There are serious social issues that need to be addressed in the wake of the riots. The problem for politicians faced with situations like those we have seen over the past 10 days is the need to be seen to be doing something positive about it. Talk about long-term problems requiring long terms solutions just doesn’t cut it with the voters, even if that is the answer. Yet it is the responsibility of the Mayor to show political leadership, to inform, persuade and facilitate these long terms solutions, even if he has not direct power to do so.

Young people are …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged camila batmanghelidjh and riots | 10 Comments

Brian Paddick writes: Lessons from the Tottenham riots

By Brian Paddick | 9th August 2011 - 7:53 am

What can be learnt from the riots in Tottenham this weekend? There have been many controversial police shootings in recent years but this would not appear, on the face of it, to be one of them. The matter is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and from my experience that might be part of the problem. There are also deeper issues that need to be addressed.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged ipcc, policing, riots and tottenham | 11 Comments

Brian Paddick writes: Reaching out to every community in London

By Brian Paddick | 27th July 2011 - 12:53 pm

One thing is for sure, if we are to improve on our position in next year’s elections for the Greater London Authority, we need to appeal to every community in London. If the MPs’ expenses scandal didn’t put people off politics, the perception that no one voted for the Coalition Government we now have, might well do the trick.

Too often, people view politicians as remote and out of touch, unable to understand their needs and act in their interests. That’s why, as well as getting our traditional vote out, we must appeal across the political divide and demonstrate that we …

Posted in London | Tagged london mayoral selection | 10 Comments

Brian Paddick writes: What’s good for the Metropolitan Police is not good for politicians

By Brian Paddick | 19th July 2011 - 11:50 am

The evening after the Metropolitan Police shot an innocent Brazilian at Stockwell I went and saw the then Deputy Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson. I asked whether it was true that the Commissioner had barred the Independent Police Complaints Commission from their legal duty to investigate the death. He said it was. I told him I thought it was the most stupid decision I had ever heard of (I knew by then that we had made a terrible mistake). He smiled and said “It’s my job to support the Commissioner.” I was concerned from then on that Stephenson might be giving …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged ken clarke, metropolitan police, paul stephenson, sir ian blair and sir john stephens | 5 Comments

Brian Paddick writes: Housing is the most important issue facing London

By Brian Paddick | 14th July 2011 - 11:52 am

When I told the BBC’s John Sopel, minutes after the result of the last London Mayoral election was announced, that my second preference vote had gone to the ‘Left List’ candidate Lindsey German, he would not believe me. There were many of her policies I did not agree with but her party was passionate about building more social housing in London. In every debate during the campaign I found myself in agreement with her and disagreeing with the other candidates on that issue.

I believe housing is the single most important issue facing London and this is why.

Quite rightly a priority …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged housing | 22 Comments

Brian Paddick writes: The Lib Dem Guide to phone hacking

By Brian Paddick | 8th July 2011 - 11:53 am

Uniquely perhaps, I was a victim of the News of the World’s private investigator, Glen Mulcaire, when I was a senior police officer at New Scotland Yard, working along the corridor from the officers who conducted the first phone hacking inquiry in 2002. But they never told me I was victim.

It was only a couple of years ago when my solicitor received a call from a Guardian journalist, that I knew Mulcaire had my name and mobile phone number in his notebook.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged andrew gilligan, bskyb, glen mulcaire, ian blair, ipcc, metropolitan police, milly dowler, news international, news of the world, operation weeting, Phone hacking and rebekah brooks | 10 Comments

Brian Paddick writes: Why I want to be Lib Dem candidate for London Mayor in 2012

By Brian Paddick | 29th June 2011 - 12:52 pm

There were three necessary but not sufficient conditions that had to be fulfilled before I could declare myself as a candidate to be nominated as the Lib Dem Candidate for Mayor of London in 2012. That I honestly believed that I had the support of a wide range of people from both within and outside the party, that I could do a better job than I did last time and that I was able to offer something other candidates could not. I believe those conditions are now met, which is why I am, here and now, declaring myself to be …

Posted in London | Tagged london mayoral selection | 25 Comments

Brian Paddick writes… I’m not a celebrity: should I have got me in there?

By Brian Paddick | 7th January 2009 - 4:20 pm

If there is a consistent theme throughout my life, it is following ‘high risk strategies’. Joining an overtly homophobic police service knowing I was gay, suggesting the police took a more liberal stance on illegal drugs, challenging Sir Ian Blair over the Stockwell shooting, and giving evidence for the family in the De Menezes inquest, were not the easiest or safest routes to take.

Having been approached by both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats to be their candidate for the 2008 Mayor of London election, following my conscience, my passion and my deeply held beliefs, …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged brian paddick and reality tv | 19 Comments